Raise the Hammer

Comment 65670

It might seem to some people that there are a few of us here who are perversely opposed to helmets. I think that I may speak for others when I say that we are not opposed to people choosing to wear helmets when cycling if they feel that there is a danger of their heads being whacked.

What I am opposed to is this emphasis that so many people put on wearing a helmet and only on wearing a helmet. As if a lack of helmets is what introduces danger into cycling.

Helmets themselves are not the problem. It's 1) the faith put in them and the assumption that a bit of particular padding will solve such dangers as there are; and 2) that helmets help to make cycling seem dangerous and inconvenient.

I love to cycle for fun and as a way of getting around. I want more people to love it, too - for their own sakes and to make my little corner of the world better. So I want real safety to improve and inconvenient distractions to be talked about much less.